The eve of St. Andrew, which this year falls on the 29th of November is divinations evening in Poland. The date corresponds with the end or beginning of the liturgical year. This date is one of the last chances for organizing parties before Advent commences.

In Polish literature, St. Andrew night first appeared in 1577.

At the beginning of the tradition, St. Andrew divinations was aimed more towards unmarried girls, and were taken very seriously. Although over time divination rituals have been transformed into fun and games for everyone.

The origin of St. Andrew divinations are not entirely known, one theory relates back to ancient Greece. The name Andrew (Andress) is similar to the Greek words aner and andros - (husband and man).

Some of the Popular Rituals

Pouring wax through the eye of a key

Pouring wax through the eye of a key is one of the most popular divinations. The Key symbolizes the opening of a person's secrets.

Wax is poured through the eye of the key into water, the shape that is formed or it's shadow is used to read the person's future. This reading can reveal the look of the person's future husband, his profession or origin, or our own destined profession.

Shoes

This is a group divination, which is for single girls. Participants line their shoes up in a straight line one after the other starting at the back of a room (each girl takes off only one shoe). After all the shoes are lined up, the person at the end takes their shoe and puts it at the front of the line, and so on, until someone's shoe reaches the door. It's believed that the owner of the first shoe to reach the door first will be the first one to get married.

Dreams on a Piece of Paper

A clear page is cut into 13 equal parts, on six of the parts you write down your deepest dreams with a waterproof pen. You then mix all the parts around and place them in the bottom of a large glass vase. Slowly pour water into the vase on top of the pieces of paper, carefully watching them as they move. The first piece of paper that floats to the surface will be the dream that will come true. If the first piece of paper to float to the top is clean, unfortunately you will need to wait a bit more for fulfillment of your dreams.

Flame of the matches

Think about a dream of yours while holding 2 matches. Light the matches and hold with heads of them upwards. If the flame goes into the middle, your dream will come true, if not you will need to wait a bit more.

TraveltoPoland wishes good luck to all of you, let your dreams come true!

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